


This Christmas

by chlolou1208



Category: Dead To Me (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28302222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chlolou1208/pseuds/chlolou1208
Summary: “And because it’s their first with Judy, and certainly not their last, Jen knew it would be the best Christmas ever.“
Relationships: Henry Harding & Jen Harding, Judy Hale & Charlie Harding, Judy Hale/Jen Harding
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	This Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! 
> 
> Just my contribution to the Christmas fics on here, I love them all! 
> 
> Merry Christmas everyone!

It’s Christmas Eve, and Judy and Charlie are currently travelling by foot, through a gloopy mix of sludge and snow; that’s still coming down in large flutters from the blue sky, in what they hope is the direction of the nearest gas station or at least any sign of living. They’re in the middle of practically nowhere, Judy having taken a wrong turn on the way to picking up Jen’s Christmas present from Santa Monica and then a few further wrong turns until they’re out of gas and stranded on the outskirts of town.

Judy had been searching for a perfect present for Jen since October, Halloween and then Thanksgiving approached faster than ever so she’d started looking for options way back when. It hadn’t done her any good though, because here she is on Christmas Eve, a surprisingly very wintery one that had gusted in from the East a few hours ago, trailing a Miami Home Bar in the back of her car with half the trunk open with tape and strings holding the huge box in place. Judy had seen it on Pinterest while looking up ‘unique presents for her’ and thought she’d hit the jackpot, Jen _loves_ wine and bars, what more could she want. There’s the obvious question of space but Judy doubts it’ll be an issue, it could replace the grand piano Jen got rid of since they bought the house from Lorna, “ _it was never fucking played anyway Jude, it won’t be missed.”_

She was wrong, Judy tried to play once (didn’t go well). She wondered now if whoever Jen sold it to noticed the smiley face she’d drawn on the keys in permanent marker pen (not on purpose) to help her remember the keys, to no avail.

Anyway, Judy had been meaning to fill her car up for a while now but throughout Christmas break she’d not needed to use it hardly, Jen’s family car was much easier for the four of them to fit in so taking her own car to the gas station had slipped Judy’s mind. Work was on the way to Jen’s office anyway so in the rare days they did work through the holidays Jen had just dropped her off and picked her up on the way to and from her office. It was better that way, plus it gave them a chance to pick Charlie and Henry’s Christmas presents up specifically without needing to make excuses to leave the house together, not as if that was a rare occasion anyway, Judy just gets red faced and twitchy when telling white lies (Jen can’t quite believe she can’t keep up a façade of ‘nipping out to the grocery store’ despite everything) so it’s easier to take a detour to the mall on the way home, it’s the least busiest time which makes it less of a chore. They’d gotten some cool presents, Charlie’s main one being a new tv for his room because his old one ‘doesn’t have enough smart controls’ and Henry’s got a karaoke machine; Jen feigned reluctance when Judy had suggested it but she knows he’ll absolutely love it.

After successfully buying two of the Harding’s prefect Christmas presents Judy couldn’t resist buying something just as amazing for the third, she just wishes she’d done it less than 24 hours before the big day. Charlie’s annoyed, had been complaining for the last 20 minutes while walking through the deserted roads about not having any phone service, that did give Judy a little worrying gnaw in her gut because _where the hell must they be to not have service_ but she’s determined to get to the gas station in time to make it back home at least tonight, even if it is the early hours of the 25th.

“I’m sorry, I really thought it would be easy, straight there straight back…” Judy apologies for the thousandth time as they walk, she’s slightly behind Charlie and his long, attitude filled strides.

“I guess it’s not your fault that we ran out of gas.” He huffs, slowing down to hold his phone up in the air to check if there’s anything picking up yet. “Fuck!” There must not be, he shoves his phone back down by his side, “We are gonna be here all night!”

It’s getting darker now too and the snow is heavier, both of their hairs are covered in white speckles and are soaking, Judy’s bang stick to her forehead. At least they can no longer see the car anymore, that has to be a good sign that they’re further away from where they started and closer to help, in turn meaning closer to getting home.

“I just wanted to give your mom the best present, she deserves it.” Judy says pouting.

“Couldn’t you have just ordered it here? I’m pretty sure they sell these bar furniture things anywhere!” He rolls his eyes when she insists that she couldn’t have, because it wouldn’t have gotten here on time and they refused to deliver when she asked them on the phone earlier this afternoon.

“I even said I’d pay double the price, they said they don’t deliver to our radius on Christmas Eve.” Judy sighs and kicks some snow up on her boot in annoyance at herself and the _stupid_ big warehouse place that doesn’t do delivery. Jen deserves that present, so she’d go quite literally out of her way for it no matter the consequence. Perhaps her spontaneous road trip to Santa Monica had been careless and now she’s paying for it.

“Hey look!” Charlie says then, pointing towards the beam of light in the distance, blearing because of the snow and fog filled sky. “We must be close right?”

“Right!” Judy perks up at that, as if it’s a sign somehow that she’s not completely hopeless and Christmas will be amazing this year and they won’t be still stuck out her by morning. “Come on, let’s pick up the pace, we’ll get to the station and then fill the tank as soon as possible, then we’ll drive like The Rock in ‘Fast and Furious’” Judy grabs his arm and forces it to link with hers, his resistance becoming less as the smile grows on his face.

“Oh my god.” Charlie laughs, shaking his head.

“What?”

“It’s not Dwayne Johnson, it’s Vin Diesel.”

Judy just shrugs, “oh they’re all the same to me” and receives a familiar teasing yet fond eye roll in return.

Anyone would think Jen was on the trip with her.

*

“They’re taking so looong, I wanna watch Home Alone before it’s too late!”

Jen sighs as she stirs Henry’s hot chocolate, the coco and milk swirling into a steaming chocolate tornado. “I _know_ , I have no clue what is keeping them they only went to drop your grandmothers presents off.” She grabs the mini marshmallows and whipped cream and accessories the drink until it looks like one of those that comes from Costa or Starbucks, _only much cheaper_.

Placing it on the counter for Henry, she tests the warmth of the mug and tells him to wait for it to cool.

“ _Ohh_ , yeah-“ Henry averts his eyes weirdly, dipping his finger into the cream and licking it off.

“What was that?” Jen says, eyes narrowing.

Henry’s face is like a deer in the headlights, his eyes are practically bulging out of his head. “What was what?”

“Your face.” She deadpans, stalking towards him once she’d packed the milk back in the fridge.

…

“There’s something on my face?”

“Henry!”

“Okay!” He sighs. “They’re not at Grandmas.” He tells her, then slips out of the stool like a magician attempting a disappearing act only Jen’s hot on his heels following behind him.

“Well then where are they?” She stands in front of him before he reaches the stairs.

“I need the bathroom-“

“Boop,” Jen huffs and places a hand on his shoulder. “Please just tell me, I’m worried they’ve been gone for…” she checks her watch and her eyes widen when she realises, “3 fucking hours, how did I not notice sooner?” (Probably because she’s spent the last 2 of them wrapping presents, awfully, and writing soppy fucking verses on Judy’s Christmas card). Her hair whips past her face as she heads into the kitchen to grab her phone, frowning when there are no calls or notifications from Judy, who texts her like every _second_ of the day just to ‘check in’ so now she’s really worried.

Henry follows in behind her. “Judy made me promise not to tell you. It’s a surprise, it only takes an hour and back, she should be home by now but maybe something went wrong with the-“ He stops short, zipping his mouth shut with his finger and pretending to throw an invisible key.

“A surprise?”

He nods.

“Well at least tell me where they’re going?”

“Ummm…” Henry frowns, wiping the cream from his nose after taking a sip of the hot chocolate. “I think it was like Santa Monica or somewhere near there? Don’t worry Charlie was driving Judy’s car because she’s terrible at directions…”

Jen sighs, “I’m gonna call her.”

*

“Oh no.”

They’ve finally reaches the town, it’s deadly quiet and there may as well be tumbleweeds blowing like in movies, the owls twit-t-wooing are the only sound. Most shops are closed and cafés have the drawers shut down, it’s just gone 10pm. Their phones have service now too and Judy’s turned hers on to find 13 missed calls from Jen, the latest one just 5 minutes ago.

“What?” Charlie looks up from his phone, pausing his search on where the nearest gas station is.

“Your mom’s called me 13 times!” Judy clicks call and holds her phone to her ear.

“Shit.”

They keep walking, Charlie points her to the left so she follows while waiting for an answer. She’s not waiting long because soon Jen’s on the other side asking “Judy where the fuck are you and Charlie it’s almost midnight-“ it’s still a few hours yet but Judy keeps that to herself.

“Jen! I know I’m sorry, we’re-“

“I know about the surprise or whatever, Henry told me.”

Judy eyes Charlie who sighs and turns down another street, his mother’s voice loud enough for him to hear.

“I just wanted to do something nice for you, don’t be mad I made them keep it a secret.”

There’s rustling on the other side and Judy checks her phone to make sure they’ve not been cut off.

“Jen?”

“-not,”

“Huh?”

“I’m not mad I’m worried, are you in Santa Monica? Look it’s just started snowing here so-“

“Yeah we are, it’s thick over here, we’re kinda stranded.”

Charlie rolls his eyes at her word choice.

“She’s exaggerating.” He says loudly, and then Judy just puts the phone on speaker and holds it between them.

“We’ve ran out of gas and we’re walking to find some.” Judy adds after. “Wait!” She gasps and points, “the station!”

“Fucking finally!” Charlie turns off his phone and quickens his pace, Judy quickly falls in step beside him.

She misses the start of what Jen’s saying because she’s turning it back off speaker to put to her ear, the cars are making it harder to hear. “So you’ve found a station now?”

“Yep, _god_ Jen I’m sorry for all this-“

“Jude.” Jen shakes her head, pyjama collar rustling against the phone as she does. “Just hurry home.” She says, heading into their bedroom to pull back the sheets and strip the pillows, ready for them to climb into. Henry’s already in bed, “oh, Henry’s asleep, he says goodnight by the way,” she adds. It’s almost as if she can feel Judy’s smile on the other side of the phone as it goes quiet for a second and then she hears a slight sniffle and a scoffed laugh.

“We’ll be home soon.” Judy finally says.

“Good.” Jen smiles stupidly down the phone, a butterfly feeling creeps into her stomach whenever Judy says the word ‘home’ because she knows that’s here with her and the boys. In their winter wonderland, present filled _home_. “I love you.” She says randomly, grinning even wider when Judy says it back, and even more when she hears Charlie balk.

“See you soon. Be careful.”

“Come on, I need my bed.” Charlie says, pulling her by their joint arms (Judy’s hugging onto his), into the station.

*

It’s 12:06 exactly when Charlie pulls the car up onto the curb outside home. Judy’s practically half asleep and when he shakes her, she stretches her arms up and feigns alertness, saying an enthusiastic ‘merry Christmas’ to him once she sees its past midnight on the car clock display. Charlie says it back tiredly and then climbs out of the car.

Once inside he heads straight to his room, whisper shouting a ‘goodnight’ halfway up the stairs. Judy’s not far behind him, she shakes her snowy coat and pats down her damp hair, then tidied her shoes away and locks the door before heading upstairs to find Jen. She assumes she’s asleep when she walks in and the lights are off, but then she sees Jen’s phone light on and she whispers a quiet “hey” before closing the door shut behind her.

“Hey…” Jen says back, putting her phone down on the bedside table and plugging the charger in before rolling over to wait for Judy to climb in beside her.

Judy’s heart flutters at her pyjamas laid out ready for her and she quickly strips of her cold clothes before putting them on and sliding under the covers with a delayed shiver. Jen reaches her arm out and grimaces at Judy’s cold forearm, her warm one squeezing and then rubbing gently.

“You’re freezing.”

“I am. Cuddle-“ Judy pouts and snuggles under Jen’s arms without waiting for an offering, her cold nose touches Jen’s hot neck and she sighs contentedly.

“Yes ma’am.” Jen squeezes her back eventually, her tired arms rest over Judy’s smaller frame.

“I’m sorry about tonight, I wanted to spend it with you and Henry and all us together.” Judy says quietly into Jen’s shoulder.

“We have tomorrow.” Jen says, _and next year because let’s face it this is forever,_ she hopes.

It’s quiet for a few seconds yet neither are asleep, tired eyes are just resting shut as they breathe in sync with one another, plaid covered chests rising slowly under the warm covers.

Then Jen says, “Judy, you know,” she pulls back to look her in the eye, “you didn’t have to go _all out_ for my present.”

“Sure I did!” Judy insists, taking Jen’s hand that’s resting on the bed between them and bringing their joint ones close to her. “You’ve given me a home, a family, _everything_ , the least I could do was get you a great Christmas gift.”

Jen shakes her head, “well…” she clears her throat and squeezes Judy’s hand gently as she says. “ I’d have just been fine with _you._ ”

Judy pulls a face as if that’s the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard, but then a hand comes to cup her face and she freezes, her eyes never leave Jen’s as she whispers a stray “ _oh,”_ and visibly swallows.

Then Jen’s pulling her in further and connecting Judy’s sweet, plump lips to her own, pressing further still gently until Judy responds and moves against her mouth like a dance, graceful and magical and _amazing._ It lasts a around half a minute or so, before they pull back at the same time to catch their breaths. Eyes stare deeply into one another’s, they’re that close that they can practically trace every single eyelash on each other, every single crease.

“Is there mistletoe?” Judy asks then, looking up quickly and then grinning back at Jen knowingly.

“No.” Jen narrows her eyes, they sparkle in the night somehow like waves in the ocean.

“Then…”

“I just wanted to.” Jen says, pulling her lip between her teeth in fear she’d been too forward, too honest.

But then Judy says “me too” and is pulling her back in and colliding their lips together fiercely, like fire and ice and Jen’s the one melting at Judy’s soft yet passionate touch, her delicate yet experienced hands sliding over the top of her pyjama covered hip.

“Merry Christmas Jen.”

And because it’s their first with Judy, and certainly not their last, Jen knew it would be the best Christmas ever.


End file.
